The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) accusedEli Lilly And CoLLY of illegally refusing to hire older workers for sales representative jobs because of their age.
According to the EEOC’s suit, in 2017, Lilly’s senior vice president for human resources and diversity recognized at a Leadership Town Hall that Lilly’s workforce was composed of older workers.
The senior vice president then announced goals for “Early Career” hiring to add more millennials to Lilly’s workforce.
After that, Lilly changed its hiring preferences and intentionally under-hired older candidates for sales representative positions in favor of younger candidates.
The lawsuit filed in Indianapolis federal court accused Lilly of violating the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.
Managers changed their hiring practices for sales representatives, sometimes requiring greater review and approval before extending offers to older candidates, even after some recognized that the 40% goal was illegal. The target remained through 2021, Reuters reported.
Lilly has reportedly denied the accusations and said it was “committed to fostering and promoting a culture of diversity and respect.”
EEOC seeks back pay and other damages for people not hired because of their age and improve training for supervisors and managers.
In August, Lilly announced that human resources executive Stephen Fry would retire at the end of 2022 after more than 35 years at the company.
Price Action: LLY shares closed lower by 1.27% at $307.50 on Monday.
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